Are Expats Going Native On Us?

[Gone]

I just recently returned after 3 month of work and noticed a goring amount of expats that seem to be going native on us.

These are the ones you see driving crappy old motorbikes with crappy old side-cars like something a poor Thai would buy.

Also I see them on their motorbikes driving along the populated sidewalks in order to get 20 meters farther, the same as the Thai's do.

I even see many on their bikes with the wife, 2 children, a dog and a big bag of rice with no helmets on. I mean come on guys......buy a car or truck even if you have to put it in finance under your wife's name.

Just driving around now I have to be careful of the foreigners driving at 600 mph weaving in and out of traffic like a Thai would. It's not the Thai's that I have to be careful of these days.......it's the expats. At least a Thai is unpredictably predictable.

I have even seen them yelling at the police when they get stopped for no helmut.It's the law for god sake and not that I'm perfect but at least when I get caught I don't act like they are picking on me because I'm farang.

We are NOT Thai's and never will be so why act like them here?

[RabC]

Just like the Farangs who live in shoe box sized Ghettos on the darkside.

[LennyW]

"600 mph" I've told you a million times not to exaggerate !!

[yermanee]

Shows you how shallow western civilization and education are engrained in many persons.

Yermanee

Edited July 14, 2012 by yermanee

[doggie888888]

I don't think it's a new phenomenon. Badly behaving foreigners is a Pattaya specialty. Their excuse is "do as the Romans do" but these are the same people who can't string 2 words of Thai together, can't stand Thai food and whinge about Thais all the time.

I just came back from town and on the way witnessed everything the OP stated plus a moronic foreigner who thinks it is OK to double park and block traffic so he can dash in to pick up his laundry, another who does not indicate when turning and yet another who thinks it is sooo cool to speed around in a motorcycle without a helmet. On days like these, I wish there were fewer white thrash in town. Gives everyone else a bad name.

[Geekfreaklover]

They are just getting on with their lives.

And who can blame them?

Those that try to live like a tourist for years on end usually end up losing all their money and jumping off a balcony.

[Ling Kae]

Who cares what other farangs do. Farangs driving like Thais do is a good thing I think. Stick to your home rules and you will be cleaned up in no time, I ride with flow, right or wrong doesn't matter here, surviving day after is what matters.

[doggie888888]

Who cares what other farangs do. Farangs driving like Thais do is a good thing I think. Stick to your home rules and you will be cleaned up in no time, I ride with flow, right or wrong doesn't matter here, surviving day after is what matters.

So, riding a motorcycle without a helmet is your idea of "surviving a day"? Riding your bike on the wrong side of the road against traffic is "riding with the flow"? As for "right or wrong doesn't matter here", I guess it is OK to cheat, steal and lie since everyone else does it? Oh dear.

[Rimmer]

Flame and counter flames removed

[Ling Kae]

Who cares what other farangs do. Farangs driving like Thais do is a good thing I think. Stick to your home rules and you will be cleaned up in no time, I ride with flow, right or wrong doesn't matter here, surviving day after is what matters.

So, riding a motorcycle without a helmet is your idea of "surviving a day"? Riding your bike on the wrong side of the road against traffic is "riding with the flow"? As for "right or wrong doesn't matter here", I guess it is OK to cheat, steal and lie since everyone else does it? Oh dear.

I never ride without a helmut and I have never had anyone steal from me in 20 years of coming here so I think I'm surviving very well thanks.

[Gone]

I just feel that trying to act like a Thai has no purpose here. If you drive a beat up old motorbike with a beat up old side-car and wear a straw hat it certainly doesn't make the Thais think that you are any more like them. They actually just laugh and say "look at the poor faring."

And as far as driving like a maniac or doing illegal things sure doesn't help our reputation or your safety.

Just my observation really.

[TheWalkingMan]

Wait... I thought people should integrate into whatever society they spend the most time with.

[CHdiver]

Now driving a motorbike with sidecar is not only very practical to carry more beer back home, but also will prevent you from falling off your bike, after consuming all that beer, on the way to get new supplies.....

[johnnyk]

Think of the sidecar as a device to hide the training wheels.

[PattayaPhom]

Its called integration. When in Rome etc. By your thinking anyone from Thailand that visits the UK/US should drive the wrong side of the road, drunk etc etc....no of course not, they do what the host nationals do, so foreigners here are simply doing exactly what visitors do all over the world from whatever the country is

[meatballs]

Well, after living here for years you kind of become like a Thai. Take me for example. I eat Thai food about 90% of the time. I'm always eating rat/cat/dog on a stick with the 5 baht bags of sticky rice.

Edited July 15, 2012 by meatballs

[guzzi850m2]

A sidecar bike is very practical for obvisely reasons and MUCH cheaper on gas too and easier to park as well compared to a car. I find it very hard to park my car downtown Pattaya so I only use it when the whole family go out, otherwise bike is the chosen ride (with helmet).

Be aware of that 99% of all sidecar bikes are illegal as the sidecar can't be added to the green book and the will be no insurance if the shift hits the fan.

I agree with OP that many expats seems to have adapted so well that they ride like Thais, not using signal light when turning, park anywhere they want, drunk driving and the list goes on.

[Traxster]

'a big bag of rice with no helmets on'...........

I think the people who sell you the bags of rice should have to supply the helmets that go with them as well.

I mean fairs fair.............right ??

[petercool]

The driving habits are one thing, but what gets me most is those expats whose mother tongue is English but speak to me (also English) in broken English as if I am a non-English speaker or a Thai bar girl .... .... "He very "mao" last night. Not go home." and worse.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Who cares what other farangs do. Farangs driving like Thais do is a good thing I think. Stick to your home rules and you will be cleaned up in no time, I ride with flow, right or wrong doesn't matter here, surviving day after is what matters.

So, riding a motorcycle without a helmet is your idea of "surviving a day"? Riding your bike on the wrong side of the road against traffic is "riding with the flow"? As for "right or wrong doesn't matter here", I guess it is OK to cheat, steal and lie since everyone else does it? Oh dear.

I never ride without a helmut and I have never had anyone steal from me in 20 years of coming here so I think I'm surviving very well thanks.

I used to never drive without my helmut, but then he went back to Germany.

[hotandhumid]

Have you ever kissed a girl before, Gone?

[dazk]

driving around on crappy old motorcycles what ever next, be eating from street food carts soon you see, disgraceful behaviour

Edited July 15, 2012 by dazk

[Gone]

Its called integration. When in Rome etc. By your thinking anyone from Thailand that visits the UK/US should drive the wrong side of the road, drunk etc etc....no of course not, they do what the host nationals do, so foreigners here are simply doing exactly what visitors do all over the world from whatever the country is

Integration is one thing but that would be more like hanging out eating with locals at local food stalls, learning the language and just basically just "fitting in" however I have been in most countries in the world and if you are let's say Australian and you saw some Chinese guy walking around Melbourne dressed like Crocodile Dundee I'm sure you would make a b-line around the guy rather then go out of your way to get to know him?

Or in Canada I would laugh my arse off if I saw a group of Japanese tourists walking around talking and always saying "eh", Howz it going eh?

Same if I saw a Thai in Mexico dressed up in a poncho and a sombrero smoking a Clint Eastwood cigar standing on a street corner.

Maybe if you lived in Essarn Sakon Nakhon or somewhere using a crappy old sidecar for your every day lifestyle and yeah even with no helmut on you might be ok but in Pattaya???????

Integration......When in Rome..........So should we all drive around Pattaya now snatching gold necklaces too?

Sure I have seen some decent looking side-cars too but the people I'm talking about you can just tell that they think they are Thai and that the Thai's will accept them for that reason.

Ohhh I forgot to mention the ones that wear necklaces weighed down with Buddha amulets and when you ask them about one they say "oh I just like it because it looks cool" and have no idea what so ever what they are wearing.

Cats, dogs and rats.....???? Dude you need to decide if you live in Kalasin, Ayutthaya or China

Edited July 15, 2012 by Gone

[hotandhumid]

Its called integration. When in Rome etc. By your thinking anyone from Thailand that visits the UK/US should drive the wrong side of the road, drunk etc etc....no of course not, they do what the host nationals do, so foreigners here are simply doing exactly what visitors do all over the world from whatever the country is

Integration is one thing but that would be more like hanging out eating with locals at local food stalls, learning the language and just basically just "fitting in" however I have been in most countries in the world and if you are let's say Australian and you saw some Chinese guy walking around Melbourne dressed like Crocodile Dundee I'm sure you would make a b-line around the guy rather then go out of your way to get to know him?

Or in Canada I would laugh my arse off if I saw a group of Japanese tourists walking around talking and always saying "eh", Howz it going eh?

Same if I saw a Thai in Mexico dressed up in a poncho and a sombrero smoking a Clint Eastwood cigar standing on a street corner.

Maybe if you lived in Essarn Sakon Nakhon or somewhere using a crappy old sidecar for your every day lifestyle and yeah even with no helmut on you might be ok but in Pattaya???????

Integration......When in Rome..........So should we all drive around Pattaya now snatching gold necklaces too?

Sure I have seen some decent looking side-cars too but the people I'm talking about you can just tell that they think they are Thai and that the Thai's will accept them for that reason.

Ohhh I forgot to mention the ones that wear necklaces weighed down with Buddha amulets and when you ask them about one they say "oh I just like it because it looks cool" and have no idea what so ever what they are wearing.

Cats, dogs and rats.....???? Dude you need to decide if you live in Kalasin, Ayutthaya or China

Have to agree with Gone on this one. Integration?? Do me a favour. Any foreigner that comes here and starts behaving like a local looks like an out and out fool. Period.

[JSixpack]

Its called integration. When in Rome etc. By your thinking anyone from Thailand that visits the UK/US should drive the wrong side of the road, drunk etc etc....no of course not, they do what the host nationals do, so foreigners here are simply doing exactly what visitors do all over the world from whatever the country is

Integration is one thing but that would be more like hanging out eating with locals at local food stalls, learning the language and just basically just "fitting in" however I have been in most countries in the world and if you are let's say Australian and you saw some Chinese guy walking around Melbourne dressed like Crocodile Dundee I'm sure you would make a b-line around the guy rather then go out of your way to get to know him?

Or in Canada I would laugh my arse off if I saw a group of Japanese tourists walking around talking and always saying "eh", Howz it going eh?

Same if I saw a Thai in Mexico dressed up in a poncho and a sombrero smoking a Clint Eastwood cigar standing on a street corner.

Maybe if you lived in Essarn Sakon Nakhon or somewhere using a crappy old sidecar for your every day lifestyle and yeah even with no helmut on you might be ok but in Pattaya???????

Integration......When in Rome..........So should we all drive around Pattaya now snatching gold necklaces too?

Sure I have seen some decent looking side-cars too but the people I'm talking about you can just tell that they think they are Thai and that the Thai's will accept them for that reason.

Ohhh I forgot to mention the ones that wear necklaces weighed down with Buddha amulets and when you ask them about one they say "oh I just like it because it looks cool" and have no idea what so ever what they are wearing.

Cats, dogs and rats.....???? Dude you need to decide if you live in Kalasin, Ayutthaya or China

You just seem terribly, terribly worried about other people's appearances. I wonder why that is. Also, we don't need all those silly stereotypes, like all Thais are gold-necklace snatchers. May the mods come down on you.

In any country there are plenty of appearances to laugh at. Check out

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

Most of those beat anything you'll ever see in Thailand.

I guess I've gotten so used to Pattaya sights that I've lost any sense of amazement at the stupid appearances of many of the farang. Who cares, really. Totally unimportant. This IS a tourist town. Maybe that's part of my own cultural adaptation to Thailand, live and let live.

I've often said, though--to wide agreement here on the forum among the knowledgeable--that most farangs here are far worse drivers that most Thais. I'm excluding the kamikaze Thais, talking about the average. Thai driving style does have its characteristics, true, but once you understand them and fit in yourself, you normally won't have any problems. I did and have driven a motorbike many years in Pattaya, probably the worst driving environment in Thailand, without a single collision of any kind. And when I'm out, if I see a farang driving, I try to move away as quickly as possible, because most farangs drive so poorly here. Too fast, too slow, don't take the opportunity a Thai would normally take, zig when they should zag, zag when they should zig, etc. Many of those driving autos are perhaps old and senile retirees anyway. Younger ones may be looking too much at the women on the sidewalks or bars. Even farang walking around are a hazard, in the middle of the street, stepping out w/o looking, imagining a crosswalk is really a crosswalk, not a kill zone, etc. I've almost hit a farang far more often than a Thai.

Edited July 15, 2012 by JSixpack

[wans]

I just got back to Pattaya and noticed how whiney some of the farang are, why dont they behave like normal people, I dont see what the point of it is

[JSixpack]

I just got back to Pattaya and noticed how whiney some of the farang are, why dont they behave like normal people, I dont see what the point of it is

Me, neither.

[TheWalkingMan]

Many people praise Thailand for the freedoms it offers. Why the hullabaloo about some guys riding around on not the most pristine motorbikes? So which is it... freedom or another place like all others which has norms that some people feel that some people should follow.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Their other vehicle could be a Ferrari for all the OP knows, and why should someone be bothered either way? Ridiculous thread.

[silentnine]

the expats i have seen who would merit the going native title are not those without helmets or with sidecars but those such as the one i saw once with his wife (on a bike with sidecar lol) collecting plastic bottles and cardboard from roadside bins.

i plead guilty to driving without a helmet whenever possible

Edited July 15, 2012 by silentnine